Have you ever purchased an item of clothing that was not your usual style, yet you were for some reason very attracted to this garment and had to have it? Yeah, I did that! And holy shitballs am I in love with this dress! When I first saw it I loved the print but the peplum thing I just never even tried before. I was hesitant af! I think I even put off buying it because I was so uncertain of it looking right for me. I’m at the point where I have a pretty darn good idea what styles and cuts of dresses work best for me and this didn’t check any of my boxes. Then they had a ridiculously great sale…So I went for it!

Prepare yourselves! (If you even can!) I was really feelin’ myself in this dress. I wore it to work that day and even though I ran around the entire day, I got tons of compliments, and the dress was comfortable as hell! I love it soooooo much!!!

You aren’t ready!!!

But here we goooo…

Impish? Perhaps.

Femme fatale? You better believe it!

Boss ass bitch?! Yeppers!

Sultry seductress? When it tickles me. 😉

Positive Posey? Sometimes!

Gallant goofball? Uhhhhhhyuuup! 😛

Tantalizing Trixie? When I wanna be!

“I just can’t fight this feeling anymooooooore”

Spreadin’ my wings…I guess?!

I call this one, “Is that my boob?”

And this one, “Is that my feet?” Ha-ha!

And maybe I had a glass of wine after a really long fucking day and decided to just laugh at it all in the end…HA!

Unfortunately, I no longer see it on their site though I only bought it a couple of weeks ago. But here’s what it looked like on their site (with my custom measurements listed if you’re into that sort of thing – and yeah it was on sale and I had a gift card).

If you’ve been hesitant to try eShakti because you can’t try stuff on, I get it, but they do custom sizing for $10 more than the regular price. Sometimes they even run free customizing deals! I’ve been a customer for nearly ten years and I’m hooked! I never wore dresses before I started buying from them. Their customer service is excellent beyond my American belief! Returns? Not a problem! They even give you a lil’ more than your purchase price if you choose store credit! How cool is that?! If you wanna give it a go, here’s my referral info below, but please feel free to hit me up directly with question you may have.

The eShakti customer can refer any non-customer to eShakti, by giving a personalized referral code. The code itself has been kept simple and will essentially be the name of the referrer.

The referral code entitles the new customer to additional $15 OFF over & above the new customer offer of 33% OFF on the first purchase.

The referrer gets a $25 gift card when the referred order is shipped to the new customer.

Your personalized referral code: SARAHREDMAN

The moral of this silly fashion story is to go ahead and push yourself out of your fashion comfort zone from time to time. You might just surprise yourself with a new love! 😉

Wheeeeew! This week, y’all! This week has entirely kicked my ass so that I’m already too exhausted for next week! Ha-ha! Seriously, though, I am so burnt out from this week’s pace and chaotic activities (at work) that I may try to talk a colleague into covering for me on Monday! UGH! That is not typical for me at all. But I also know when I’ve had enough and lemme tell ya…I’ve had ENOUGH!

This morning I woke up with part of my face swollen! I was exhausted though I slept pretty good for a spell. I don’t know what could have caused the swelling but it’s almost okay now. I got ready for work and was already running late when I went to grab my keys out of my purse and saw that damned mouse/rat had eaten 1/4th of the banana I left in it and it shit in my fucking purse! I wanted to scream and cry and stomp my feet! But I had to go to work so I cleaned it up, cursing the entire time, and ran out the door. Didn’t even have time for coffee. *Whimper*

Then on the way in I had a terrifying thought that I had forgotten to order lunch for my office today. Luckily I didn’t forget and my boss even confirmed the other day, unbeknownst to me. We’re a great team, though. Ha-ha! Mind you, I set up three different events this week plus today’s lunch that I will also have to clean up. On top of all of my usual things and projects. I feel like a madwoman! I do enjoy the pace most of the time, though. This week just happened to be break-neck!

One event I actually got to attend and enjoy was a paint and wine night! I had always wanted to do one but friends have been flaky or not interested and so never had the chance. Always felt odd to go alone, though I think they do singles events now, I’m too shy (maybe) for that. Ha-ha! But I enjoyed myself thoroughly and entirely and even feel sort of proud of my lil’ painting. It was fascinating to see how everyone was painting the same thing yet they all came out very different and lovely! I was blown away!

I did try my best to start the week off right. I even went to the salon to get a trim I’d been putting off for ages! I didn’t realize that my usual stylist, the salon owner, was on vacation. I was nervous about someone new cutting my hair, but I’m happy. Look at my ridiculous makeup-less face!

They always straighten my hair when they cut it but I don’t mind, just feels fancy for a day. Ha-ha! I don’t normally do anything to my hair at all but wash, condition, brush, go! Or put in a bun to sleep, wake up shake it out, go! I spend more time on my eyebrows than my hair on a typical day. I am fortunate to have good hair genes, I suppose, but had you said such a thing to me in previous years I would have laughed and argued. My stylist got me to finally love my hair’s natural texture last year and now there’s no going back!

My lil’ babyman! I think he’s bored of the heat. It’s been too hot some days to go for our usual walk, so we try to play in the house for a bit. I snapped this pic as he was pouncing on his chew toy and just looked up with those lil’ teefers! Irresistible!

I’m mostly happy, y’all. It’s weird, and it’s not like I’m perfectly contended in every way or anything. Lots of room for improvement…like getting rid of stupid mouse/rat, ugh! But honestly there’s not much more I could ask for at the moment. Time is just flying and life does keep on moving and well, I’m here for all of it! I’m also in love with this plant in our lobby at work.

The couch is gorgeous (I picked it out, thanks) but I was more focused on the plant when I snapped this pic. Ha! It’s just so dreamy to me for some reason. My lil’ patio plants department is doing just swell, too! I finally figured out my hose situation and have been tending to my lil’ garden each week and I am really enjoying it. I do occasionally wish I had a person to sit with on my patio and just enjoy their company. I just started reading Great Expectations though, so I will be on my patio for a stretch this weekend for sure! It’s no paradise but it certainly feels like my own private oasis at times.

I did also make some decent progress on organizing my bedroom. Unfortunately, the clothes rack that I had repaired myself broke again and now I don’t know what to do with it. I love it but it’s not cheap to replace and I can’t figure out how to mend it. UGH! Kind of waiting on my next paycheck to go to Ikea to get some things I really need/want. I can get a cheaper clothes rack there but I know I will spend quite a bit so I’ll keep my repair dreams alive until then! ha-ha! This weekend I will jump back into it and see if I can really downsize my wardrobe like I need to. Fingers crossed!

Picking up on behavioral patterns is a classic symptom of PTSD-C/Trauma/Abuse survivors. We do this in order to survive. If you’re in a domestic abuse situation, as I was, picking up on things early, even subtle changes, meant less violence directed at me later. 24 years after I escaped that horrific experience (5 years in a near-hostage-type situation), it has taken on a different meaning for me lately. It can be a blessing, for sure, but right now it feels so much less so.

**TW/CW: Talk of rodents, spiders, and how we deal with them. Nothing too gory, I promise. And no pics of them at all! I wouldn’t do that to you!

Oh my dearest, loveliest of lovelies! I am so darned tired! I have had very little sleep (with the exception of last Friday night) in ten days. I’m getting about 4 solid hours at this point, and before you hit me with all of your sleepy wisdom, it has zero to do with me! I know, who’d a thunk it?! Ha-ha! But it’s true, I have a rat/mouse/pest in my apartment. I first noticed it on the 21st of July and told my landlord the next day. Three days later he left me a bag of “mouse killer” which included a single bait station and a big ole sack of bait.